Big Lead Sports Bar

3/31/2010

FINAL MELLON ARENA REGULAR SEASON GAME TICKETS GOING SKY HIGH

As you know, we're coming up on a milestone game in Pittsburgh, that being the final regular season Penguin game at Mellon Arena. And if you're in the market for tickets to the game, well, I hope you saved your money.

The Thursday, April 8 contest against the New York Islanders, long sold out, will feature a pre-game ceremony highlighted by more than 50 Pens from the past, including Hockey Hall of Famers Mario Lemieux, Paul Coffey, Bryan Trottier, Craig Patrick, Larry Murphy and Andy Bathgate, Jean Pronovost, Syl Apps, Dave Burrows, Bryan Watson, and Ron Schock.

April 8 will also be Fan Appreciation Night, the annual postgame lottery where current Penguins players will give 20 lucky fans the “Shirts Off Our Backs” following the game.

Mix all of this excitement along with the actual last regular season game, and suddenly you've got a hot ticket. A quick scan on Stubhub reveals that final-game tickets range in price from $325 (balcony E3) to $6,982 (an idealistic seller in A3). Ebay currently has 12 pairs available on buy-it-now, from $699 (E29) to $2,500 (Igloo). And then there's Craigslist Pittsburgh as a third option, but it looks like there are more buyers than sellers on that site at the moment.

Suffice to say, this should be one of the most hotly-anticipated and priciest regular season Penguin games of all time, alongside Lemieux's home debut, Sidney Crosby's home debut, and Lemieux's comeback in 2000.

Like with Three Rivers it's a place that held champions a few times, but like with Three Rivers my lasting memory will be listening to people do nothing but complain about how ugly it is. I didn't think Pens fans cared enough about it to give it a big send-off.

I like the building's distinctive shape, and will be sorry to see it leave the skyline.

Located in proximity to Time Square, this Cheap Madison Square Garden tickets arena is known to be the greatest! Knicks lost the game that night, but we thank you, New Yorkers, for making our experience memorable.